Case 3: Keep Safe Ducky: Or When Sally met a not-so-nice Harry.

The aim of the case is, first, to reinforce the point that there is more to international HRMthan the management of traditional expatriates on long -term assignments. The focus ison what we term a non-expatriate or international business traveller. The fact that the person concerned is a female adds an additional element. As so much of international business involves travel, the second aim is to get students to think about physical risk i s s u e s r e l a t i n g t o s t a f f w h o t r a v e l i n t o v a r i o u s h o s t country contexts on company b u s i n e s s . T h e y m a y c o n f r o n t s i t u a t i o n s t h a t m a y c a u s e t h e m e m b a r r a s s m e n t a n d discomfort, and even be life threatening.This short case is designed for use in class as a way of breaking up a chalk and talk session, to facilitate class interaction, or for use in a tutorial. It is not designed for use asa Harvard-style case study. The case contains enough detail for students to be able toidentify key aspects without over-whelming them with information that is not essential tothe exploration of issues raised by the case story. Students who are operating in Englishas a second language will appreciate its brevity.It is ideal for small group discussion of about half-an-hour, with about the same time for a full class debriefing session. One option is to get a different group to report to the whole class their answer to one of the four questions, with another group to comment onw h e t h e r t h e i r a n s w e r a g r e e s o r d i s a g r e e s w i t h t h e f i r s t g r o u p s r e p o r t e d a n s w e r . A l t e r n a t i v e l y, t h e i n s t r u c t o r c o u l d g o r o u n d t h e v a r i o u s g r o u p s a n d g e t a f u l l c l a s s discussion on each answer.T h e c a s e c o u l d b e u s e d i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h C h a p t e r 3 w h e r e n o n - e x p a t r i a t e s a r e introduced and discussed in terms of the s t r e s s e s a n d p o s i t i v e a s p e c t s o f b e i n g a n international business traveller. Alternatively, it could be used in relation to Chapter 10in drawing out some performance management aspects Suggested ways of handling the case questions. 1. How would you have handled the situation in which Sally finds herself? Answers to this question will vary according to the level of maturity of the students, thegroup composition (proportion of males to females for example) and their experiences intravelling internationally. For example, younger male students may insist that Sally brought the situation on herself and is therefore to blame. This attitude may reflect genuine opinions on the subject or merely be an act to pose as a Devils Advocate to provoke female group members.Some students will argue that Sally should not have spoken to the other passenger in thea i r p o r t l o u n g e , a s t h a t b y e n g a g i n g i n s m a l l t a l k , S a l l y h a d signalled that she would